Obviously its way, way, way too early to be saying that any of our players are future Hall of Famers, but I still think its fun to look to the future and to speculate. I see 3 guys who have a legit good chance of being HOF'ers some day and a few others who might get some consideration.

1. Richard Sherman: Even though he hasnt made a probowl yet he was widely considered the best cornerback in football this year. Plus the All Pro selection shows that he has the respect of the writers who vote for Hall of Fame. Any time you're the best at your position you deserve consideration. If he can put together another 4 or 5 years playing at his current level, and then 3 or 4 at a pretty high level after that, i think he'll be in Canton.

2. Russell Wilson: For him I think it will come down to winning Super bowls. If he wins 2 or more, which I fully expect him to do, he'll be in. And you just know he'll end his induction speech with, "Go Hawks!"

3. Earl Thomas: He's 3 for 3 in Probowl selections and already has 2 (i think?) All Pro selections so he has the respect of players, media and fans across the country. If he can keep it up I think he has a pretty good chance.

Two guys who I think will get a bit of consideration and maybe a few votes are Lynch and Okung, but ultimatly I think they'll come up short. Of course, if we can string together 2 or 3 Super Bowls over the next seven or eight years our guys will get a ton of national recognition and it might help a few of their causes.

So, bottom line, Let's go win a few Super Bowls!!!

P.s. I believe Owen Schmitt will be eligible for Canton in 3 more years, and we all know that he's a lock.

Axx wrote:Russel Okung and Max Unger, if we can get this kind of production out of them for the next 8+ years they are shoe in hall of famers.

I might be wrong but I believe center is the hardest position (other then punter) to get into the HOF. Even if he's the best center in the league for the next decade there's a good chance he wouldn't make it.

This crop would have to be part of a couple championships before thinking they would be able to get into the HOF. At least that is my thinking. I don't think the young guys have started out with eye-popping performances. Really good start but not league-wide explosive playmaking for ET and injuries hit Okung/Unger early. Sherman needs to keep up his current performance level but I think he can get there.

Axx wrote:Russel Okung and Max Unger, if we can get this kind of production out of them for the next 8+ years they are shoe in hall of famers.

I might be wrong but I believe center is the hardest position (other then punter) to get into the HOF. Even if he's the best center in the league for the next decade there's a good chance he wouldn't make it.

Right now I think everyone who has looks like they could be one are too young to really know. If he can keep up the same level of play every year for 5-6 years Sherman is the only one I can say I think could. It's far too early though.

Matticus wrote:Right now I think everyone who has looks like they could be one are too young to really know. If he can keep up the same level of play every year for 5-6 years Sherman is the only one I can say I think could. It's far too early though.

Too early to tell, what really helps a Hall of Fame resume is All-Pro selections and Super Bowl wins. Especially for a QB. I think Thomas is off to a great start though, only 23 already 2 pro-bowls and 1 all-pro.

I believe that Earl Thomas needs to improve his hands before we start talking about the Hall Of Fame. He left about five interceptions out there this season. The argument is always, "He gets to more balls than other people could, so the fact he didn't bring it in is kind of negated." However, he will be the first person to tell you that he left picks out there and that he should have had them.

Rat wrote:It is really, really hard for a safety to make it, but hopefully that'll change by five years after Thomas retires.

Next to zero chance for Lynch. RBs have too short a shelf life and Lynch has too far to go to get there.

Lynch is turning 27 and has 6000 yards so the chance isn't at zero but he would have to maintain his level for at least 4 more seasons before dropping off into mediocrity. I would say around 6000 more yards at least. He does have a little bit of notoriety (beast quake) which will help him and his running style is admired by all.

Thomas will have to up his game considerably to be considered for the HoF.Only two safeties that played after 1980 have made it - Ronnie Lott and Rod Woodson, and of the 12 players that have made it as a safety, every single one of them has at least career 48 interceptions, though Woodson and Lott have 134 between them.

I think Thomas is capable of 50+ career interceptions as he can get to the ball, he just needs to catch them.

drdiags wrote:TDOT, Lynch's back makes me leery about him holding up another 4 years. I could see maybe 2 more before he becomes like Michael Turner with the Falcons.

I am not saying it is likely - just that the chance isn't zero.

As for Thomas, I think he will be the eminent safety of his generation - like Ed Reed was for his. Thomas will literally have to be a perennial pro-bowler/all-pro. The thing with safeties is that most of them are retired corners or journeymen. Rod Woodson was a corner first. There aren't many safeties who play safety from

Ed Reed will make it without a doubt. Dawkins has a good chance. Lynch less-so. Polamalu may be Easley-ed if he doesn't come back from his injuries.

First, I'd like to say that I think some are vastly overrating our offensive line. Wilson 's mobility and Lynch's ability to break tackles makes our offensive line look a lot better than it really is. If we had a back that wasn't hard to bring down like McFadden or Bush and a pocket QB like Matt Ryan, Stafford or Manning; our line would've given up a lot of TFLs and Sacks this year. I'm not saying Unger and Okung didn't play well, but I am saying they didn't play as well as some are being led to believe. Okung has to stay healthy and keep playing at a high level if he wants to get in and Unger needs to limit the number of missed assignments by our offensive line if he wants to get in. Interior blitzers coming through free was a major problem for our offensive line this year, but I'm going to chalk that up to a lack of experience at the OG position.

Thomas is an obvious choice because of his pro bowl and all-pro selections already. Sherman, potentially if he can keep out of trouble. Hell if Deion Sanders made it in? My gut tells me Wilson, but time will tell whether he continues his meteoric rise. I suspect that he will! Someone mentioned Mebane and he is another one that my gut tells me yes but reality sets in and the Seahawks have a nasty reputation of ruining folks shot at the HOF just because of the drought. Look how long Tez had to wait. A few Superbowl wins would rectify that in a hurry though!

First, I'd like to say that I think some are vastly overrating our offensive line. Wilson 's mobility and Lynch's ability to break tackles makes our offensive line look a lot better than it really is. If we had a back that wasn't hard to bring down like McFadden or Bush and a pocket QB like Matt Ryan, Stafford or Manning; our line would've given up a lot of TFLs and Sacks this year. I'm not saying Unger and Okung didn't play well, but I am saying they didn't play as well as some are being led to believe. Okung has to stay healthy and keep playing at a high level if he wants to get in and Unger needs to limit the number of missed assignments by our offensive line if he wants to get in. Interior blitzers coming through free was a major problem for our offensive line this year, but I'm going to chalk that up to a lack of experience at the OG position.

I think Lynch may have had a shot if the Bills had not sat him on the bench for a season and a half. That probably lost him at least 1,000 yards off his career total. He would be at about 7,000 now and only 2 or 3 seasons away from 10,000 at his current pace.

As it stands, he will need at least 3 or 4 seasons at his current pace to make 10,000. And they aren't even going to seriously consider you until you hit that club. And even then it is not a shoe-in. A SB win would go a long way to get Lynch in the conversation. It's a tough road for him to get there as it stands currently.

Thomas is the only guy I would say has a real shot at the Hall of Fame right now. Mainly because, like you said, he is on the media's list of premier players at their position. And he's still only 23 YEARS OLD. He could easily rack up a lot of Pro Bowls and All-Pro seasons as long as he keeps playing at a solid level. Getting on the media's good side is the key to the HOF, and Thomas is already in that group.

It was very difficult for Cortez Kennedy to make it, and Ken Easley didn't make it. I think those two factors need to be kept in mind. There is nobody on our team right now who come close to comparing to Easley and Kennedy in natural talent. Easley had double digit int's in a season. That's very rare. He also played CB, both safeties, LB, and returned punts and played all special teams, plus was widely known as the hardest hitter in the league. Sure his carer was shortened, but there's quite a bit of comedy to me when folks say that Sherman is on his way. I think Mike Reinfeldt once had 10 int's in a season early in his career, and have yet to see him in the hall of fame.

Dave Brown isn't in the hall of fame. That guy was a complete shutdown corner.

The only players we've had who have been really well known and widely known like Tez and Easley from day 1 in their careers are Russell Wilson and Earl Thomas. Earl is solid, but isn't like Bob Sanders in that he is spectacular (Sanders was always hurt, but to me he was a completely spectacular player that was involved in every play). Russell Wilson had a great rookie year, probably equivalent position wise to Easley's early years comparatively. Russ needs to have a season like Tez had in 1992 and every other year of his career needs to be like this season, then he has a chance.

Safeties aren't guys who easily make the hall of fame. QB's, RB's typically make it. Even RB's have a hard time (although I find it comical that Thurman Thomas is in... the guy had a low average YPC and just never seemed that great to me). I think if Richard Sherman was in his 7th or 8th year and still playing like this and was playing in New York they'd refer to him as "Future Hall of Famer Richard Sherman". But this was his first full season. For all we know, everybody will figure him out and he'll have peaked this past season. You just never know. Look at other guys who had lots of picks early. Mark Carrier did, and he isn't a hall of famer. He faded away quite quickly, but was one of the best DB's in the game from week 1 as a rookie and then got figured out and seemed to get worse and worse. It happens.